


No Distance Too Great

by svgurl410



Series: Friends to Lovers [3]
Category: Smallville
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Developing Relationship, M/M, pre slash, slash (pre-slash anyway)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-11-23
Updated: 2007-11-23
Packaged: 2020-03-07 19:04:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18879352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/svgurl410/pseuds/svgurl410
Summary: Clark finally breaks up with Lana and his friendship with Oliver grows stronger, even when they have to be apart.





	No Distance Too Great

**Title:** No Distance Too Great  
**Pairing/Characters:** Clark Kent/Oliver Queen  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Disclaimer:** don't own anything  
**Warnings:** slash (pre-slash anyway)  
**Spoilers:** 7.07 “Wrath”  
**Summary:** follows [“Come Undone”](http://svgurl.livejournal.com/59561.html) and [“Drawing Lines”](http://svgurl.livejournal.com/60505.html); Clark finally breaks up with Lana and his friendship with Oliver grows stronger, even when they have to be apart.

My fanfic100 table is [here](http://svgurl.livejournal.com/39096.html).

Prompt #21 “Friends”  


  
When the mail came that day, Clark had to stop himself from running to the door. Today, he was expecting a very important letter, a letter that would determine his future. Waiting until the mailman was out of sight, he ran out and picked up the letters in the mailbox.

Making his way back inside, he scanned through all the envelopes, his eyes searching out a particular one.

Bill, bill, something for his mom, junk mail . . . then he stopped when he saw the return address he was waiting for. Metropolis University. Resting the rest of the envelopes on the table, he eagerly opened the letter.

_Oh, please, please._ Pulling the letter out of the envelope, his eyes scanned to the top.  
_  
Dear Mr. Kent,_

_We are pleased to offer you admission to Metropolis University . . ._

At that Clark, stopped reading and almost jumped around for joy. He had been accepted . . . everything was going the way it was supposed to. Finally, he was getting his life back on track.

The past few weeks had been difficult, to say the least. He still couldn’t believe that he had told off Lex like that. All the words that he had longed to say just came out. Oliver standing by his side, encouraging him, defending him, gave him strength.

_Oliver._ A smile appeared on his face thinking about the blonde. If it wasn’t for him, he didn’t know how he could’ve gotten through the past couple of weeks. When everything fell apart, Oliver was there to pick up the pieces, to put him back together.

And he was grateful for him. He didn’t know what he would do if Oliver hadn’t shown up when he did.

Clark was certain the blonde would be proud of him and couldn’t wait to tell him the good news.

Of course, that would have to be a phone call because Oliver, much to Clark’s disappointment, had to return back to Star City. He promised to come back as soon as possible but the business he had was unavoidable.

That had been more than a week ago and Clark missed the blonde desperately. He wanted nothing more than to see him again, see those beautiful brown eyes, hear that wonderful laugh . . . his heart ached just thinking about him.

Because long ago, he had accepted that his feelings for Oliver Queen ran deeper than friendship. But for now, being friends was all he could handle.

After stalling a long time, he had broken with Lana. It was pointless to think that they had a future together. Lana didn’t understand him, and the two of them were just headed on different paths. She wanted him to love her no matter what she did and he just didn’t.

It wasn’t fair to either one of them to stay in the relationship so one day, he had sat her down to talk and told her it would be best if they went their separate ways.

She had been shocked with the break-up but she handled it better than he thought she would. The same evening, her things were packed and she left to Metropolis, saying she was going to stay with Nell.

It had been harder for him to lose Lana than he thought. Despite his growing feelings for Lana, he couldn’t deny that Lana had been his first love. He had cared for a lot and the fact that they were really over was hard to digest, despite he being the one who did the breaking up.

Oliver had still been in town when Clark broke up with Lana and he was the one Clark ran to after Lana moved out.

Running to Oliver had just seemed so natural, so _right_. He hadn’t even considered going to anyone else, not Kara, not Lois, not even Chloe.

He was hurting and the only face he wanted to see was Oliver’s. And the blonde had only been too happy to take care of him.

_Goodbye was harder than Clark had expected. Clark watched Lana’s car drive off and couldn’t help the sadness that threatened to overwhelm him. He knew this relationship was heading south. Ever since Lana had returned from the dead, she had been different. She was darker and she had been bent on revenge on the Luthor family. What Lionel and Lex did was horrible but he couldn’t believe how far she was going._

_Her almost killing Lex without any regret and then calling him a coward for not committing murder was the final straw._

_And despite it all, she asked him to love her through anything. He couldn’t give her an answer because he knew that he couldn’t love her like she wanted him to. No, her morals were far too different than his and he just couldn’t justify her actions any longer._

_He did love her but he had a sneaking suspicion he wasn’t in love with her anymore. To continue this relationship would be wrong . . . he wasn’t happy and he had a feeling she wasn’t either. They couldn’t pretend, couldn’t keep going with the façade of a happy couple that they managed to portray to the rest of the world._

_Breaking up with her was hard. He had been in love with this woman since he was five years old. She had been the only love that he had known and to let her go, to really let her go, was difficult. But he had to._

_Clark knew his destiny laid outside of the farm and Lana was partially right about his powers. He couldn’t just sit around and do nothing with them. It was time to take control of his life._

_He had already cut Lex out of his life and now, it was time to cut Lana out too. She wasn’t right for him, she didn’t understand him._

_And now she was gone. It hurt like hell, but losing her didn’t hurt as much as the realization that he was once again, alone._

_Looking around the farm, he sighed. He couldn’t stay here, there were too many memories. At least right now, he had to get away._

_But where would he go? An image of a certain blonde billionaire popped into his mind. But he felt bad, he had been troubling Oliver a lot with his problems recently. He didn’t want to take advantage of Ollie._

_He really didn’t want to be alone though. Hopefully, Oliver wouldn’t mind him bothering him just one more time._

_Speeding toward the penthouse, his heart leaped at seeing the blonde again. He was definitely attracted to Oliver Queen. Even before he broke up with Lana, he could recognize that he had more than platonic feelings for the older man._

_How could he not? Oliver was everything he aspired to be and somewhere along the way, he realized that all he wanted was the blonde._

_They had been hanging out a lot recently and Clark could just be himself around him. Oliver didn’t judge him, didn’t expect anything from him and it was just amazing how at peace he felt when he was with him. How could he help falling for this incredible man? He couldn’t . . . he wouldn’t want to stop even if he could._

_Entering the elevator, his nerves were in a bunch. What if Oliver was busy? The blonde could have a date or something . . . and it shocked how much it hurt imagining Oliver with someone else. As the elevator stopped, he hoped he wasn’t walking into anything that he really didn’t want to see._

_But as he opened the gate, he heard . . . nothing. Glancing around, he wondered where Oliver was._

_“Ollie?” he called, taking a few steps inside._

_“Clark,” a voice came, catching his attention. He turned toward the sound, seeing Oliver making his way down the steps. “I wasn’t expecting you, was I?”_

_“Hi,” he said, “No, you weren’t.” Clark shuffled his feet nervously. “If I’m coming at a bad time, I can leave.”_

_“No, you’re more than welcome to stay,” Oliver said, “I’m absolutely free at the moment.”_

_“Okay,” Clark said, not knowing what else to say._

_“Come on,” Oliver said, “You obviously have something on your mind . . . let’s talk.”_

_“I don’t mean to keep bugging you with my problems,” Clark said shyly._

_That stopped Oliver in his tracks. He turned around, intense brown eyes staring at him. Closing the distance between him, Oliver took his hand._

_“Listen to me,” Oliver told him, “You never bug me . . . I am more than happy to be your shoulder. Anytime you want to talk, I’m here.” Tugging on his hand, Oliver led them both to the couch. Once they were seated, Ollie looked at him expectantly. Seeing his silence, Oliver smiled. “Whenever you’re ready, Clark.”_

_“Lana moved out today,” Clark said softly._

_He saw shock on Oliver’s face. “Is that so?”_

_“I broke up with her this afternoon,” Clark confessed._

_Whatever Oliver had been expecting, Clark could tell it wasn’t that. “Wow,” Oliver murmured. In a louder voice, he added, “That couldn’t have been easy for you.”_

_“It wasn’t easy,” Clark admitted. “I loved her, Ollie, it’s just . . . I can’t keep pretending that everything is going to be all right when I know it isn’t.”_

_“You’ve been having doubts for a while,” Oliver noted._

_“Yes, I have,” Clark agreed, “You know better than anyone how many doubts I’ve been having. I just had to see that Lana and I are not meant to be. No matter how hard we try, we can’t work it out. There’s always something preventing us from being perfect together. And now I just have to accept that it’s not coincidence . . . it’s fate. But it hurts, Ollie . . . it hurts so much.”_

_“She was the first woman you loved,” Oliver said, stroking his hand gently. “It will take a while.”_

_“That too,” Clark said, “But I don’t know if that’s just it. When I was with Lana, I wasn’t alone.” He met Oliver’s eyes. “My biggest fear is that I’ll always be alone, because of what I am. But Lana didn’t freak out. She accepted that I was an alien and loved me despite of it. If we couldn’t make it work, who can I make it work with, Ollie? Sometimes, I’m just so frightened that I’ll be alone forever.”_

_“Don’t say that,” Oliver interrupted, “Don’t ever say that. Yes, you’re an alien but that doesn’t define you. It’s just part of who you are and makes you that much more special. You’ll find someone, Clark . . . I just know it. Anyone would be lucky to spend their lives with you. Lana missed out, Clark, but you’re right . . . you weren’t meant to spend forever with her. I promise you, though, you will find someone, someone perfect, and you’ll just know that they’re the one. The one that you want to commit yourself to, your soul mate. And they’ll love you so much, because, Clark, it’s impossible not to love you. You’ll see then, that they won’t care that you’re an alien and won’t love you despite it, but it will be part of the reason they love you.”_

_Clark felt tears welling in the back of his eyes at Oliver’s passionate words. One look into those brown eyes, full of adoration and Clark could tell that he meant every word that he had just spoken._

_And that was when Clark knew. He acknowledged he had feeling the blonde before but at that second, Clark realized he was in love with Oliver Queen._  
  
Clark hadn’t looked back since. He knew that the person Oliver described was Oliver himself. Knew that he wanted to commit himself to Oliver, knew that the blonde was his soul mate.

But he wasn’t ready, wasn’t ready to confess his undying love to him just yet. No, they were friends and Clark wasn’t exactly sure that Oliver had feelings for him anyway.

Besides, he wasn’t ready for a relationship, no matter how hard he had fallen. Most of his life had been spent trying to achieve love but where had it gotten him? He knew nothing of his heritage, the Zoners were still running around and he was a college dropout.

Before he gave his heart to Oliver, before he could love Oliver, he had to love himself. Had to respect himself and that moment, he didn’t.

Going back to school was the first step though. To get anywhere in this world, he needed a degree and that was what he was going to do. Until he sorted out his life, he was not going to engage in any romantic relationships.

That didn’t mean he couldn’t go see Oliver and share with him the good news. Oliver had stood by him through the hard times and he deserved to be the first to know. And a phone call just wasn’t enough.

Glancing at his watch, he calculated the time difference. It was a workday but maybe Oliver would have some free time coming up. Pleased that he had finally gotten a hold of his ability of flight, he found a secluded area and shot up into the air, speeding toward Star City.

\---------

_Is this day ever going to be over?_ It was barely one o’ clock and Oliver Queen was already frustrated. He had had non-stop conference calls all morning, starting at six a.m., each one more exhausting than the last.

But the day was far from over. Though he had a short break now, in a couple of hours, he had a board meeting, which he knew was going to be draining.

If he was honest with himself, he would acknowledge the real reason he was so upset was that he really didn’t want to be in Star City. He loved his home and he adored the city in which he grew up but at the moment, he just wanted to be in Metropolis.

More than Metropolis, he wanted to be in Smallville, with Clark. He missed the brunette so much. How he had fallen so hard so fast, he didn’t know but he was madly in love with Clark Kent.

He still remembered the day Clark had run to him after his break-up with Lana. When he told the younger man about how he would find love, he didn’t add that he wanted it to be _him_ that Clark found love with. Wanted to say that nobody would ever love Clark the way he did and if Clark gave him half a chance, he would worship him till his dying day.

Alas, it was not meant to be. Clark would never see him as anything but a friend, a buddy. And as much as that pained him, he would take Clark in his life anyway he could get him. If friendship was all that was on the table, then that was what he would settle for.

That didn’t mean he didn’t miss the brunette like crazy. He wondered what Clark was doing.

“You look tired,” a voice commented, effectively snapping him out of his thoughts. Looking up, he was shocked to meet the emerald green eyes of the man who had just been invading his thoughts.

“Clark,” he breathed.

“Long day?” Clark asked, smiling.

“You can say that,” Oliver said, standing up. “What are you . . . how did you . . .?” Words failed him, which was unusual for him but all he could focus on was that Clark was there, standing in front of him. And he couldn’t concentrate on much else.

“I never thought I’d see the day that Oliver Queen was speechless,” Clark teased. Oliver chuckled.

“Well, stranger things have happened,” Oliver joked.

“I just came here to surprise you,” Clark said. “I have some exciting news . . . and I wanted you to be the first to know.”

“Share then,” Oliver said.

Wordlessly, Clark handed him an envelope. Confused, Oliver accepted it and then he saw the return address.

“Clark, Metropolis University?” Oliver whispered. Pulling out the letter, he read the first line and smiled.

“You got in,” Oliver said excitedly, “I knew you would! Congratulations!” He made his way to the brunette and hugged him.

Clark hugged him back. “Yeah, I just found out and I had to let you know.”

Stunned, Oliver pulled away. “Nobody else knows yet?”

Clark shook his head. “No, I wanted you to be the first.”

Oliver was touched. “Clark,” he said, “I’m honored.”

“Oliver, if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have been able to survive these past few months,” Clark told him, “And you’re the one who encouraged me to go back to school. I had to tell you first.”

“I’m really proud of you, you know,” Oliver stated. All of his morning’s anger was gone . . . replaced by this unbelievable happiness, at finding out how highly Clark valued their friendship.

Clark blushed. “Thanks . . . I’m sorry I interrupted your work.”

“Don’t worry,” Oliver assured him, “I have a break now. In fact, let’s go out . . . I know it will be a little early for you to eat but we can go celebrate.”

“Aren’t you busy?” Clark questioned.

“I have nothing for the next few hours,” Oliver answered, “We’ll celebrate more this evening . . . can you stick around? You can stay with me.”

“I can stay,” Clark replied, with a smile.

“Wonderful,” Oliver said. “Now let’s get out of here.”

“Sure you don’t have to be here?” Clark asked worriedly. “I don’t want to monopolize you . . . I know you have a heavy schedule.”

“Trust me, Clark,” Oliver said, “I have a board meeting but that is not for a while. For the next couple of hours, I’m yours.”

Clark wanted to say that he wanted Oliver for more than just a couple of hours, he wanted him forever. But he managed to keep his mouth shut and refrained from embarrassing himself.

“Sounds great,” Clark said enthusiastically.

“I know a great place,” Oliver said, as they exited Oliver’s office. As they passed Oliver’s secretary, Oliver told her, “Sheila, hold my calls. I’m going out for a bit.”

She agreed and Oliver smiled at Clark and Clark couldn’t help but smile back.

Once again, he silently thanked whoever sent Oliver into his life. The blonde was a great friend and even though he wanted more, he could settle for friendship, if it kept Oliver in his life.

Friendship would be enough . . . at least for now, it would be enough. 


End file.
